Organ and tissue surgical restoration are clinical techniques that may be applied to numerous different body tissues, ranging from blood vessels to whole organs. Conventionally, such surgical techniques require the use of incisions, pins, staples and/or significant sutures in order to alter the tissue's anatomy. For example, surgical gastric restoration often employed to treat obesity and typically involves the reorganization of the digestive tract. Conventional examples of such procedures involve attempts to either 1) restrict food intake into the body via a restrictive bariatric procedure (a “Restrictive Procedure”), or 2) alter the anatomy of the small intestine or divert the peristalsis of a person's normal food intake past the small intestine to decrease caloric absorption via a malabsorptive bariatric procedure, which is commonly known as a gastric bypass (a “Malabsorptive Procedure”). It is also known to combine the two procedures such that both of the aforementioned techniques are employed jointly.
Malabsorptive Procedures entail an intestinal bypass that results in the exclusion of almost all of the small intestine from the digestive tract. In most Malabsorptive Procedures, a portion of the stomach or small intestine is removed from the digestive tract through a surgical procedure that requires cutting the digestive tissue and thereafter closing any holes or securing the newly formed anatomy with staples and/or sutures. Conversely, Restrictive Procedures generally involve the creation of a passageway extending from the upper portion of the stomach to the lower portion of the stomach in order to decrease the size of the organ and thus prevent the stomach from storing large amounts of food. Conventional Restrictive Procedures rely on the banding, suturing and/or stapling of the stomach to create a small pouch on the superior portion of the stomach near the gastroesophageal junction.
Combined operations consisting of Malabsorptive and Restrictive Procedures are the most common bariatric procedures performed today. An example of a combined procedure is the Extended (Distal) Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass in which a stapling creates a small stomach pouch (approximately 15 to 20 cc) completely separated from the remainder of the stomach. In addition, the small intestine is divided just beyond the duodenum (the hollow tube connecting the stomach to the jejunum), re-arranged into a Y-configuration, and sutured to the small upper stomach pouch to enable the outflow of food therefrom through the newly formed “Roux limb.”
Accordingly, most digestive tract restoration procedures require that the stomach and/or tissue of the intestine is cut and thereafter sutured or stapled back together. As the digestive tract contains numerous enzymes, strong acids and multiple species of bacteria that assist with digestion, the perforation of an organ and/or tissue thereof is particularly problematic due to the likelihood of leakage therefrom and/or increased risk of serious infection. As such, conventional gastric surgical restoration procedures have high rates of post-operative complications that may require prolonged hospitalization and even additional operations, and are often irreversible and/or permanently affect the restored tissue and/or organ. Accordingly, a need exists for safe and effective devices and methods for restoring organs and tissue that are reversible and do not require cutting or penetrating the underlying tissue with significant sutures, staples and/or pins.
It will be appreciated that the foregoing examples are only provided as examples and that there are numerous other indications where intervention is necessary either to restore the underlying organ or tissue and/or to provide support thereto.